The Kingdom and the Spirit

In the first chapter of Acts, before the ascension of Jesus, His disciples put to Him the question concerning the time of the coming of the kingdom. The form of their question betrays their less than complete understanding of Jesus’ teaching on this subject, since they still conceived of the kingdom in national and political terms: “Lord is it at this time that You are restoring the kingdom to Israel?” (Acts 1:6). Jesus’ reply seems to evade the issue of the kingdom, since He indicates that they are not to be party to the knowledge of God’s timing (1:7-8). But then He goes on to speak of the coming of the Holy Spirit and the accompanying power for witness. How does Jesus answer their question? His reply has two parts. First, He denies that they can know the timing of the full, final restoration of God’s political rule on this earth. But secondly, He says in effect that the kingdoms power that will be present at this time will come with the Holy Spirit. Hence God’s rule is not coming at this time in the political sphere, but it is coming at this time in the power of the Spirit.

Further on in Acts 2, Peter associates Christ’s exaltation to the position of King with the outpouring of the Holy Spirit: “Therefore having been exalted to the right hand of God, and having received from the Father the promise of the Holy Spirit, He has poured forth this which you both see and hear” (Acts 2:33; see also 2:34-36). The implication is that Christ, as King, extends His power and authority through the Spirit. The presence of the kingdom in this age is demonstrated through the power of the Holy Spirit.

Given this union between the kingdom and the Spirit in the gospels and Acts, we are not surprised to find the same relationship in the Pauline corpus. In Romans 14:17 Paul indicates that “the kingdom of God is not eating and drinking. but righteousness and peace and joy in the Holy Spirit.” The present reality of the kingdom is demonstrated by the production of moral virtue in the believer through the Holy Spirit (cf. Gal. 5:22, 23). Where the Spirit is active, there the reign of God is present. Similarly, the apostle tells the Corinthian church that “the kingdom of God does not consist in words, but in power” (1 Cor. 4:20). The “power” he refers to is probably that of the Holy Spirit (2:4), which elsewhere in the letter is simply called “the power of God” (1:18; 2:5) or “the power of our Lord Jesus Christ” (5:4; 1:24).

Another aspect of the Pauline teaching on the Holy Spirit is that the Spirit is called the “pledge (arrabon) of our inheritance” (Eph. 1:14: 2 Cor. 1:22; 5:5). Arrabon signifies the payment of part of what is due, which serves as a pledge of the full payment which is to follow. The Spirit is the first installment of the full inheritance of the believer. A similar concept is found in Romans 8:23 where Paul says that we have “the first fruits (aparchen) of the Spirit.” This term has to do with the first reaping taken from the harvest Both of these words indicate that the Spirit’s presence is the first part of the greater gift of God and that it, in itself, is of one piece with that greater gift. As Dunn rightly says. “This is the power of the new age, this is the eschatological Spirit. The Spirit was the presentness of future blessing.”¹⁰ The Spirit’s presence in this age is nothing less than the first in-breaking of the future kingdom of God. The believer experiences the power of the future kingdom now through the presence of the Holy Spirit.

Tags: kingdom, spirit

Category: Spirit, Spring 1999